Canon fires out a long shot

Canon has recently launched a new lens, the catchily named Canon CN20x 50 IAS H E1/P1.

Yes that’s right, a 50mm zoom with 20x magnification giving us 50mm – 1,000mm range. What’s more, it also has a built in 1.5x extender, so that’s 1,500mm at the tight end. Wow.

With a removable servo drive unit and the built in range extender, it looks like Canon have given us many of the benefits of the traditional broadcast lens, but in a S35 cine package ideal for 4K. Quite a feat.

Available with an EF mount (E1) or PL mount (P1) the weight isn’t too bad either, just 6.6kg. That’s all very impressive but there has to be a compromise somewhere… well it’s not the fastest lens around. T5.0 at 50mm rising to T13.35 at 1,500mm. It’s unavoidable physics… imagine how big and heavy a lens of this range would be if it was any faster.

So ideal for sports and wildlife, or any extreme close-ups from a long way away.

There’s no confirmed pricing yet, but it’s probably not going to be cheap. Rumours are mostly in the £45,000 – £55,000 range which sadly makes this something I’m going to have to hire rather than own!

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Recording the everyday life of the freelance cameraman. Honest about what goes right and wrong, with frank opinions about the kit we use, we’ll be sharing tips, having a laugh and maybe even getting excited about this fantastic industry.